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Random Access Memory 2013
Random Access Memory (RAM) Random Access Memory, also known as RAM, is a type of memory that every computer uses. There are a few types of RAM but the most commonly known is Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). It comes in chip form and is located on the Motherboard and various other parts of the computer like the Video Card . There is hard memory that keeps information for as long as until you delete it. You can find more information on hard memory here: Hard Disk Drive. RAM doesn't work like hard memory. The more RAM your comuter has the faster it will go because its main job is to pick up on all the random information trafficking through your computer at a given moment. RAM isn't like Serial Access Memory (SAM) either; with SAM you have to access information in sequence but RAM you can can access any file randomly, hence the name random access memory. The held RAM information will dissapear once either the program you are using is turned of or the computer itself is turned off. The more space the more information it can hold at once allowing your computer to keep a consistant fast speed. A good analogy of how RAM works is if your chip was a room and your data was 100 people and you had to get those people in and out without slowing anything down. The bigger the room the more room people will have which means it will be easier and smoother to function. A RAM chip consists of capacitors and transistors that combine to make one memory cell. The amount of memory cells widely varies depending on the size of your memory chip. The chips vary from 1 to 16 gigabites. A capacitor holds electricity while the transistors move electricty. When a capacitor is storing electricity it is a 1 and when there is no electricity occupying the cell it holds a 0. This is called Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). By using Binary code all the memory cells have 1s or 0s to write out the temporary information, so you can imagine there are billions of memory cells that work together to hold the trafficing information. The memory cells are set up in a grid form and together each cell reads the electric currents that come through. If the electricity fills a capacitor above 50% it becomes a 1 if it is less than 50% it stays a 0. Depending on which rows are accessed in what order it keeps the information and does the same thing again, this whole proccess happens in nano seconds. In 1968 Robert Dennard invented Intel's first RAM chip. Since then the RAM chip has grown smaller but more efficient which brings us to Moore's Law. Based on his observations, Gordon Moore saw that every two year the proccessor speed and RAM memory has doubled and believes the same pattern will continue for the future. Sources: http://www.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm http://www.mooreslaw.org/ http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/ram_his